The Canadian veteran was forced to call time on a career spanning two decades after being diagnosed with spinal stenosis in 2011, a condition which could have left him paralysed or dead had he fought on.

Adam, 39, is currently recovering at home from his second major neck surgery in an attempt to ensure he is not in such danger for the rest of his life. We wish him all the best, as you do, without doubt.

You might imagine that a man who has picked up a majestic 31 WWE titles over the course of his career might have a little arrogance about him, but Adam is as good an ambassador as wrestling could have.

Sitting down with FT at a packed MCM Comic Con in London a little while back, Adam is modest about the past, also candid and determined about the future.

He said: “Yeah, you know I try not to get too caught up in it, though. I jumped around in tights for a living, you know! It was fun.

“If you start getting caught up in what you’ve done and start introducing yourself in your character name, it’s like: ‘Oh dude! Put on the brakes, I’m Adam!’”

On his injury, Adam added: “I knew there was stuff going on. I knew I didn’t feel great. I knew there were issues, but I didn’t know to what extent.

“I knew there was discomfort, pain, all of those things, but you kind of get used to that so when we got the MRIs and discovered how bad it really was, I was like: ‘Wow, really?’ I just didn’t know it was that bad.

“They said: ‘You’ve got no choice, we’re shutting you down,’ because I think they knew that I wouldn’t shut down.

“I knew I was coming close to the end of my career so it wasn’t a massive shock, but I still thought I had about a year in me.”

There is no shred of bitterness about the man that his career was curtailed, which is impressive. Quite the opposite – Adam knows just how lucky he is.

His recent success acting in SyFy drama Haven has been a happy accident, he says, but he’s enjoying it immensely.

His character Dwight Hendrickson is a caretaker – almost as good a handle as Sexton Hardcastle back in the day!

Hall of Famer Adam says he’s unconcerned about a return to wrestling in future.

He said: “I did it for a long time, and you know I did it so that now I don’t have to if I don’t want to. If I get itchy I’ll scratch it, but right now I’m happy where I’m at. I’m enjoying being a human being and not being the superhero.”

• Haven airs on SyFy on Tuesday nights at 9pm. For the full interview with Adam, don’t miss Wrestletalk TV on Challenge this Sunday night at 11PM. My little mate Kieran Stephens was a great help on the day at